The Result of Being Broke
by Deceased Laughter
Summary: Cloud looks for a job to help Tifa support the orphans of Midgar. he gets an offer that sounds too good to be true, and it is.


Cloud Strife sat at the counter of some dingy bar at Goblin Town cursing the day that he decided to open up a delivery service. After telling a middle aged drunkard that he was not in any way interested in having a threesome with him and his "wife," he decided to curse the fucking Jenova cells for not even giving him the luxury to get drunk and forget his problem like most people did in the post-Meteor Planet. Instead, he had to get a job to try to help Tifa and the orphans.

Speaking of his job, he was currently trying to chase down some bastard who had promised one hundred thousand gil if he delivered a little package for him. Cloud personally thought that it was a load of bullshit but Tifa asked him to look into it. Lately, it seemed that the only thing he was useful for was moving furniture so he agreed just because he felt like he needed to get out of the house.

So, after a slight nod to Tifa's "Be careful," Cloud got on his beloved motorcycle and drove to the warehouse that the men on the telephone had given him directions to. Upon arrival at the warehouse, Cloud was mildly surprised to see that it was an abandoned warehouse; most places had been abandoned after ShinRa's downfall due to what Barret had called a "giant ass market crash." Anyway, after Cloud entered the broken down building, he had gotten attacked by two good looking yet murderous men.

It had been a hard fight too, though Cloud would swallow raw mako before admitting it to anyone. He wasn't sure what does men had been (he'd had no choice but to kill them and his scan material had been unable to identify them), but he was certain that they had not been human. Even tough he had been unable to question them, Cloud had found a tape near a pile of ashes that had formerly been one of his enemies instructing him to go to a bar called Purgatory in a small town near Kalm called Goblin's Town. Cloud had simply rolled his eyes at his possible employer's dramatics and drove to Goblin Town and eventually found his way to what these hicks imagined a bar was supposed to be like.

Cloud shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked around. Throwing a dirty look at what the bartender laughingly called juice, he leaned over the counter and called for the girl that was serving the few drunks that were sitting in the bar. Taking advantage that said bartender had decided to take a break, Cloud decided that it was time to gather information.

"Hey! Uh, serving girl," the small blonde chick who looked more like a harassed teenager than and adult looked over and started walking over to Cloud.

"Yes, sir," she sighed and took out a small note pad. "May I take your order?"

Cloud tried his best to look friendly; he needed information, but this chick looked about as ready to help anyone as Hojo on one of his bad days. He plastered what he hoped was an easy smile and asked, "I was supposed to meet someone here," he glanced over at two drunks who were currently having a wobbly arm wrestling contest while spitting insults at one another. "Someone a bit more distinguished than your usual clientele." He had considered asking the bartender but he seriously doubted that guy's intellect.

The girl rolled her small brown eyes and glared at Cloud.

"Look, the closest thing we get to distinguished in this hell hole is the perverted town priest," she crossed her arms and plastered a fake smile on her face as well.

"I just wanted—"

"Goldilocks, I really don't give a tiny rat's ass," she leaned a little closer to Cloud and poked his nose playfully. "Either you tell me your order or I'll continue to socialize with the less distinguished clients of this establishment."

Cloud gave her one of rare, genuine, and small smiles and tried to keep his voice gentle.

"Look, just tell me if anyone came here asking for Cloud Strife and I'll get out of your merry life so you can continue to socialize with the less distinguished clients of this establishment," at this small speech the girls eyes widened.

"You're Cloud Strife?"

Oh, _fuck!_ The one time he decides to open his mouth and he practically shouts his name out into the alcohol infested wind. He looked down so she couldn't see him blushing. _Brilliant, _he thought. _Next she'll want my fucking autograph._

"Yeah right," she plopped down in the stool next to Cloud's. "Like the Planet's new favorite hero pretty boy would waltz in this shit hole any given day."

"Look, I told you, I'm supposed to be meeting someone here," he supposed it was a good thing that she didn't believe him. _It's not like you look that imposing shorty._

"And for what, if his swordsmanship doesn't mind me asking?" the serving girl smirked at him and batted her eyelashes. If every single word she said wasn't dripping with sarcasm, Cloud would think she was hitting on him.

Tired of this little battle of wits Cloud pulled out his wallet. "Just tell me if anyone came here looking for me and I'll make it worth your while."

"How much are you willing to pay for this information," she asked without a trace of greed in her clear voice.

Cloud paused and shrugged. He wasn't really _that _interested but he had driven all the way out here and it would be disappointing not to find a job after all. He needed to help Tifa out; and these days gil did not grow on trees.

He glanced over at the girl again and found her staring at him intently; he could have sworn that her eyes changed to red for a second. Feeling stupid, Cloud shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts but before he could do anything the serving girl grab his arm and pulled him towards the back of the bar. He heard one of the drunks mutter "lucky asshole" under his breath and wondered what the hell was going on.

The girl dragged Cloud through a thin shit brown corridor and pulled into a small storage room. The girl (he really needed to ask her name) leaned against the wall and sighed tiredly again.

"I was told it would take you a few days to get here," she said a curios tone.

It was at this moment that Cloud realized that he was being manipulated and he _detested _being manipulated. Feeling a sudden rise in his anger-meter he narrowed his eyes at the girl who had decided to turn her gaze to him.

"_Who _told you I was going to be a few days late," barked Cloud putting on his coldest and most arrogant expression. "And what the hell is your name supposed to be?"

"You can call me Megan," said the girl who was looking less and less like an overworked teenager. "And one of my associates told me that you'd be distracted."

"Okay, _Megan_ just who are these associates of yours and why the hell did they try to kill me?" asked Cloud in his most icy tone.

Megan decided to challenge Cloud's tone with a nauseating amount of sweetness. "Don't be angry Cloud; they weren't really trying to kill you. They were just testing your skills."

"Well, they're dead so I hope that was impressive enough for you," said Cloud smugly.

"You killed them," said Megan in a tone that would have scared Cloud had he not spent five years watching helplessly as Hojo transformed him into a lab rat.

"Yes, they are," Cloud looked down at Megan and smirked. "Anyway, I decided that I'm no longer interested in this job. It was nice meeting you Megan."

Cloud turned around but Megan grabbed his left arm to keep him in the room. Cloud tried to pull his arm away but he found that Megan was too strong, even when he used his mako enhanced strength. Quickly realizing that he was in a worst situation than he had presumed, Cloud pulled a dagger from the back of his pants and pushed it at Megan's throat.

"Let go of me," said Cloud in a low menacing tone.

Megan's eyes widened in surprise but she did not let go of Cloud's arm. "I'm sorry, but you have to at least listen to what I have to say."

"I don't have to do anything I don't want to do," iced Cloud in the same low tone.

"Yo, Megan," Cloud and Megan quickly leapt away from each other before the bartender walked into the small room. This man seemed like someone who had looked like a teen all his life and had aged suddenly in about a week. The frat boy turned middle aged man type. "Why the fuck are you not tending to the fucking bar?"

Had Megan not tried to cut circulation in Cloud's arm a few seconds ago, he would have listened to his annoying chivalric tendencies and leapt at Megan's defense. But seeing how she was actually strong enough to make him resort to violence, he told said annoying chivalric tendencies to shut the fuck up.

"Whatever Marty," said Megan and grabbed Cloud's arm. He tired to pull his arm away but Megan kept her hold on him. "I quit," she said and walked out of the room dragging Cloud with her.

"Hey, you can't just fucking quit on the spot," Megan chose to ignore this and dragged Cloud out of the bar with the bartender on their tail.

Before Megan could get in a word edgewise, Cloud got on his bike and started the engine.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" blared Megan to be heard despite the engine.

"Like I said," yelled Cloud. "I am no longer interested on this job." He put his foot on the accelerator and drove away from Megan at top speed.


End file.
